NASA rover lands on Mars to look for signs of ancient life

I watched it live this morning with my kid. What a thrill!

Congratulations JPL! Way to stick the landing!

Over the next month, the world will be full of "firsts" from this program.

There are a number of technology demonstration experiments on Mars now. Helicopter, O2 creator, extremely high-def cameras, and Perseverance moves faster than any prior rover.

The first low-resolution images were returned very quickly from the front and rear cameras.

Technical scores on the landing:

10, 9.9, 9.9, 10, 5.9 (from the E. Germans) 9.9, 10.

Only people of a certain age will get this joke.

And yes, well- done JPL! Now, let’s science the s#%t out of this!

This is “Can Do” America. Not “It is what it is” America.

To launch something from Earth, travel 300 million miles, land at a specific location, at a specific time, undamaged is pretty cool.

I'm starting to think if we want to do something we can.....

Excellent H.G. Wells reference! @KobeWhiteBarOwner! And, in the end (spoilers!)...

it was our ‘virus’ that won the war. (@kuripisu 7:21a JST will be relieved (?)

Happy landing, Perseverance. Congratulations to NASA's controlling team.

I’m planning on moving to Mars to raise my family as soon as safe to do so.

Humans have really messed up Planet Earth.

this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter.

I saw it live on PBS. Another great achievement by NASA and not only is this truly making America 'great', the knowledge we gain from this will benefit all of us, just like the Chinese and UAE robots that arrived here this week.

Sammy Hagar says, 'Here we go marching to Mars...'

The landing marks the third visit to Mars in just over a week. Two spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates and China swung into orbit around Mars on successive days last week.

Always late to the party.

Just tidy up when you leave the place, all of ye.

Perseverance’s mission alone costs nearly $3 billion."

and millions of Americans have no jobs, no food or water. Stupid.

The only certain future mankind has if it wishes to survive is to become a multi-planet species. No matter what man does on Earth the Earth is doomed to be destroyed. When the Sun consumes the last of its hydrogen it will expand rapidly into an enormous Red Giant with a diameter greater than Earth's current orbit, All of the inner planets will be destroyed or in the case of Mars scorched and perhaps its surface re-melted. After the Red Giant phase the Sun will explode in a nebula and then shrink into a white dwarf. Man must master interplanetary and then intergalactic travel and learn how to survive on alien planets. There is no other way, and no time like the present to start learning the vast amount of knowledge this will demand. What we saw today is just one small step on this long patch. It was anything but a waste.

“Marching To Mars”, ...First, the U.S.; next, the UAE, and pRc orbiters & rovers arriving soon.

Arthur C. Clarke’s “2010“, anyone? Stay tuned...

btw: Thanks @starpunk 2:20p JST You took us down the ‘red rocker rabbit hole’.

Always late to the party

How so? This is the fourth rover the US has placed on Mars. At least one of these rovers has been working non stop since 2004. A rover designed to last at most two years has been busy for 16. Where were all the other nations? One could argue everyone else is late to the party. Of the three arrivals this week only the US put a rover on the Martian surface. That was the most complex landing sequence anyone has ever attempted on another planet. In the next week or so the US will be the first to fly a helicopter remotely on another planet. Late to the party indeed.

A celebratory event, to benefit All. (wow, @DesertTortoise 12:35p (...a bit much, ya think?).

No I don't, but the place where I work had a hand in designing and testing the parachute system and we all watched the big outdoor test of the prototype. Nothing about that landing sequence was easy! As I wrote above, learning how to travel to other planets and survive on their surface is the only choice mankind has to perpetuate itself. If we never leave the Earth and live on other planets we are doomed.

A ‘celebratory event’ to benefit All human-kind. Congrats NASA.

A celebratory event, to benefit All. (wow, @DesertTortoise 12:35p (...a bit much, ya think?).

"Perseverance’s mission alone costs nearly $3 billion."

and millions of Americans have no jobs, no food or water. Stupid.

NASA already knows that there has been and still is life on Mars.

Not only Mars, there are signs of life on the moon too.